Raspberry Fool

This summer I saw a few different Fool recipes floating around, and all of the claimed that Fool is a traditional English dessert.  My Grandma was born and raised in England, my Dad was born in England, and he still has lots of family there.  So I was shocked I had never heard of this before.  I asked my Dab about it, but he didn't know anything either (he left England when he was 2, my Grandpa was in the Air Force).  So I did a little research, and sure enough it is English.  So I had to make some! 

It is a super easy, rather light dessert.  By light I don't mean calorie wise, I just mean not heavy.  It is basically a homemade whipped cream with pureed fruit mixed in.  It is a great dessert for a big meal, not too sweet and not too heavy.  Plus it is super easy to make.  No baking or cooking, so you are done in less than 10 minutes!  It is pretty versatile, you could use many different fruits.  From what I could find it looks like raspberry is traditional, but I could see strawberries, blackberries, or blueberries being great.  I even saw someone layer the cream over grilled fruit (peaches I think). 


Raspberry Fool
Printable Recipe

1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 pint raspberries

Using an electric mixer whip the heavy cream over med high until you get soft peaks.  Mix in powdered sugar and vanilla.  Do not over mix or it will curdle and turn to butter. 

Place all but a few raspberries in a food processor.  Puree until almost smooth.  You don't want soup, but you don't want huge chunks either. 

Fold the raspberries into the cream.  Serve in a glass, and top with the reserved raspberries. 

If you want to take it over the top and away from tradition you could layer in some brownies! 

Strawberry Raspberry Jelly

We made it home from vacation!  It is a really long drive from Salt Lake City, Utah to Iowa.  But I can now say that I have driven every inch of Interstate 80 across Wyoming and Nebraska in less than 12 hours.  My 6 year old does awesome in the car, or we wouldn't be able to travel the way we do.  So now I am doing laundry, figuring out meals so I can go grocery shopping, and playing catch up!  Makes you want to turn around and go on vacation again! 

Good thing I have another strawberry recipe to share with you!  I don't even have any milk in the house, so cooking is not happening right now.  But it will tomorrow, after I have gone to the store. 

This jelly is a combination of raspberries I had on hand that needed to get used, and our fresh Strawberries.  I used A Spicy Perspective's recipe as a guide.  She was making a chipotle version, and I was making a sweet version, but it worked!  I didn't have any lemon, so I used lime as my citrus.  Now...I think I used a little too much.  But lime does work very well, it gives it just a hint of something different. 

Strawberry Raspberry Jelly
Adapted from A Spicy Perspective
Printable Recipe

1 pound strawberries
1 pint raspberries
1 large juicy lime, zested and juiced - I would skip the zest next time
3 cups sugar
¼ tsp. salt

Slightly mash the berries, leaving some chunks.  You want a total of 3 cups of berries. In a saucepan combine the lime zest, lime juice, sugar and salt over medium heat. Stir the mixture until the sugar dissolves.

Bring to a low boil. Simmer for 10 minutes.

Then, check the gel consistency by placing a small amount on a frozen surface. Run your fingers through it. If it separates and is not runny, remove the jam from heat. If it is still runny, simmer another 5-10 minutes and check again. The jelly could take 10-40 minutes to gel properly.

You can freeze or follow proper canning instructions for storage.   It made about 4 6 ounce jars.